Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Earlier this year Virginia M. of Clinton, NY was prescribed oxygen for her COPD. Her oxygen provider gave her a large concentrator and a supply of oxygen tanks that were too bulky for her to manage. Going out with the tanks was difficult for Virginia. They were heavy, and they never seemed to last for as long as they were supposed to. The shortages made it too hard for her to plan for trips outside of her home. She started to become frustrated and didn't know what to do. "I didn't know if any alternative existed. I thought that's all there was," says Virginia. Without seeing any other options she ended up staying at home all the time and started to become depressed.

Fortunately, one day Virginia saw a commercial for portable oxygen concentrators from Open-Aire. After a phone call with Open-Aire, Virginia was able to get the information she needed, and her pulmonary doctor helped with the paperwork she needed. A short time later she received her equipment, and she and her doctor are both very pleased with the results since making the switch.

Now that Virginia has a portable oxygen concentrator she goes out more than she did, even before being prescribed oxygen. She takes trips to the mall, the casino, the grocery store, goes out to lunch with her sister, and is taking full advantage of being mobile again. In fact, her son Frank has trouble keeping track of her. According to him, "now that she has her portable concentrator, she’s never at home!"

Thursday, October 2, 2014

Peter D. of New York is a 90-year-old veteran of World War II, and a true American hero. Later this month, Peter will be joining a group of veterans on a trip to Washington, D.C. for
Honor Flight, a group that transports our heroes to Washington, D.C.
to visit the monuments and reflect at their memorials. The trip could have been
much more difficult for him though, because earlier this year Peter was
prescribed oxygen due to his Pulmonary Fibrosis.

Even at 90
he’s still very active. He does his own shopping, goes out on drives, and
visits his friends in the neighborhood. So when he was prescribed oxygen it was a
difficult change. He found his entire set-up of tanks and concentrators to be
very difficult to use. “You have to be an engineer to hook them up. You have to
wait for delivery. And you can’t take them on a plane,” says Peter.

Fortunately
Peter learned about Open-Aire soon afterwards, and he was able to get a new
portable oxygen concentrator. Now Peter’s trip to DC will be much easier. “The portable
oxygen concentrator does everything for me. It lasts me all day. I can take it
on a plane. It even reminds me to breathe the right way.”

We thank
Peter for his service, and we’ll be sure to check in with him again to see how
he enjoyed his Honor Flight trip.